“There’s never been a Black female director nominated in the history of the Academy Awards.” NEW PRODUCTION COMPANIES Following in the footsteps of successful creators like Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, Shonda Rhimes and Issa Rae, who opened doors for underrepresented talent, screenwriter Amy Aniobi, TV writer Felicia Pride, actor Khalimah Gaston and filmmakers Fanny and Nelson Grande are building pathways to bring more diverse voices to Hollywood.
For Angela Bassett, vying for an acting Oscar for the second time next Sunday in a 40-year career, every role she has taken has been an opportunity to break through perceptions of “us as Black women.” “To show our humanity, to tell the diversity of our stories, and to share the complexity of what it means to be Black and woman,” Bassett said last week at the African American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) Awards. Nominated for her role in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”, the 64-year-old waited 29 years for her second Oscar nomination.
While Hollywood has made progress on diversifying talent and storytelling since the 2015 outcry of #OscarsSoWhite – when all 20 acting nominations went to white actors – the pace of change is not fast enough for both the famous and those waiting to emerge. Diverse creators are building incubators, their own production pipelines and venues where they can screen work and receive feedback and support each other.
This year, there has been criticism that Black-led films like “The Woman King” and “Till” were overlooked for Oscar best picture and acting nominations, and the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) last month came under fire for having all white winners. Of the 13,252 Oscar nominees since 1929, 6% are from underrepresented ethnicities, a USC Annenberg Inclusion at the Academy Awards report concludes. And out of all Academy Award winners, only 2% have been women of color.
“There’s a consistent lack of recognition for Black female directors,” “The Woman King” director Gina Prince-Bythewood said at the AAFCA awards. “There’s never been a Black female director nominated in the history of the Academy Awards.” NEW PRODUCTION COMPANIES
Following in the footsteps of successful creators like Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, Shonda Rhimes and Issa Rae, who opened doors for underrepresented talent, screenwriter Amy Aniobi, TV writer Felicia Pride, actor Khalimah Gaston and filmmakers Fanny and Nelson Grande are building pathways to bring more diverse voices to Hollywood. Aniobi met actor Issa Rae after college and together they went from YouTube comedy series “Awkward Black Girl” to five-season Emmy-nominated HBO Max series “Insecure” with a majority Black cast. Now, Aniobi has a deal with HBO to develop shows.
